It is worth reemphasizing the point: The Pac-12 needed to survive primarily because Washington State and Oregon State needed to survive.
The stakes were not equal for all Pac-12 member schools. We have seen this statement affirmed in a very real and direct way. Oregon and Washington found a home in the Big Ten, joining USC and UCLA. The Four Corners schools found a home in the Big 12.
Four schools are floating in limbo and don’t know if they can find a power conference home. They are at risk of losing quite a lot of money from various revenue streams the Pac-12 — as a Power Five conference with high payouts and distributions from the College Football Playoff and NCAA Tournament — was able to provide for them.
George Kliavkoff didn’t understand how important it was to provide the tough, principled leadership the whole Pac-12 needed. If it meant resigning when Pac-12 presidents rejected a supposedly significant ESPN deal last year, Kliavkoff needed to do that. He instead allowed himself to be constrained by the same Pac-12 CEO Group that rejected Larry Scott’s Pac-16 plan with Texas and Oklahoma over a decade earlier.
The Pac-12 has been mismanaged for a very long time, and the consequences at Washington State are severe. Wazzu’s athletic director, Pat Chun, decided to speak out.
We have Chun’s remarks followed by fan reactions in the Pac-12 and across the country: